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Own Your Home? Don't Forget These Tax Breaks 03/16/2015 08:00pm • For many Americans, owning a home is a large investment -- in money, in time and in a community. Fortunately, those investments can pay off at tax time, with several deductions that can help minimize the burden. Many homeowners are familiar with the home mortgage interest deduction, but a few othe Smarter Ways to Shop Online 03/16/2015 08:00pm • Online shopping is basically 20 years old. When Pizza Hut allowed customers to order pizza online back in 1994, it was considered revolutionary; the same goes for when Amazon.com first went live in 1995. Depending on your age, you may see online shopping in one of three ways: -- As something that' No glitz in 2016 Montgomery Co. budget 03/16/2015 07:31pm • WASHINGTON -- No glitzy new initiatives. No big-ticket projects. Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett calls his FY2016 budget a "same-services" plan: one that seeks to enhance services where it can while avoiding expenses that could come back to haunt the county. "I do not want to make any mis Lawsuit: DC cab companies ignore the blind 03/16/2015 03:32pm • WASHINGTON -- A lawsuit was filed Monday against four D.C. cab companies by the American Council for the Blind after drivers were caught on camera passing a blind man with a service dog. "The day that I spent out in the rain, the cold rain, doing this work with Channel 9 -- it was incredibly frus Local school district may miss chance for Kings Dominion Law waiver 03/16/2015 04:36am • WASHINGTON -- A local school district that��has��been lobbying to kill��the so-called Kings Dominion Law for��years could miss��a chance��to get a waiver from the rule��that says students can't go back to school until after Labor Day. "On the one hand I don't think we're going to miss any more da The Tax Surprise Few Credit Cardholders Know About 03/15/2015 08:00pm • The day you finally pay off the last of your credit card debt is nothing short of monumental. You feel like a tremendous weight has been lifted off your shoulders. It's as if you've just received a raise -- which, for all intents and purposes, you have. There's also a profound sense of accomplishmen Last-Minute Ways to Improve Your Retirement Finances 03/15/2015 08:00pm • It's difficult to make up for a lack of savings once you are in your 50s or 60s, but there are a few ways to do it. Significantly downsizing your home can give your nest egg a quick and significant boost, and taking steps to maximize Social Security can improve your monthly cash flow. Of course, yo 7 Money Moves for the 5 Years Before Retirement 03/15/2015 08:00pm • What you do in the five or 10 years before you retire can make a major difference in the quality of your life in retirement. No matter how much you have saved and prepared, you will still need to tick items off your retirement planning checklist. Here are seven last-minute retirement maneuvers that 4 Ways You Didn't Know You Were Cheating on Your Taxes 03/15/2015 08:00pm • If you're reading this, you may have already cheated on your taxes -- but probably not on purpose. Most people have a hard time understanding the complicated U.S. tax code. The average American got only about 50 percent of questions right when asked about income taxes, according to a NerdWallet stud The Dangers of Investing With a Home Bias 03/15/2015 08:00pm • When Americans talk about the stock market, they're generally referring to the Standard & Poor's 500 index or the Dow Jones industrial average. That's understandable, particularly when it comes to the S&P 500, which represents about 80 percent of U.S. market capitalization. Because it's a w Space Place: Reflecting on a recent astronaut chat 03/15/2015 04:11pm • WASHINGTON -- On March 13, 2015, WTOP anchors Debra Feinstein and Mark Lewis did a live��10-minute interview with NASA Astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut Samantha (Sam) Cristoforetti aboard the International Space Station (ISS). WTOP set up a live blog page in advance IRS warns D.C. residents of tax scams 03/14/2015 06:51am • WASHINGTON ��� As tax day fast approaches, the IRS says D.C. residents trying to file their taxes are more vulnerable to scams. The District is one of three places nationwide that sees the most tax-related identity fraud, says Julianne Breitbeil with the IRS. One of the scams the agency is seeing Potomac Yard Metro Station project moving forward 03/13/2015 04:52am • WASHINGTON -- The Potomac Yard Metro Station is quickly moving forward, and��the latest step came Thursday as a Metro committee voted in favor of a future public hearing on the project. The full board will vote later this month to advertise the ���compact public hearing,��� likely for a date in Apri How to Spring Clean Your Finances for Retirement 03/12/2015 08:00pm • This spring may be one of the most anticipated seasons in years, following the never-ending series of snowstorms we have seen over the past few months. Fortunately, we know that the days of delays, shoveling and cold weather should come to an end in the next few weeks. Before the ground gradually th 10 Strategies to Save for Retirement on a Low Income 03/12/2015 08:00pm • It's extremely difficult to save for retirement when you are only earning a small salary. The Senate Special Committee on Aging recently held a hearing about retirement preparedness, and witnesses shared ideas for encouraging saving. Try these strategies to boost your retirement savings: Save by de